Console Wars

To do

• I'm really unfamiliar with books, ISBNs, and release dates... the 2015 re-release appears to be the "Illustration Edition" (i.e. including a photo section), but I'm not sure how to get that added to that little dropdown arrow in the release dates section of the BookBob...

CartridgeCulture (talk) 23:44, 31 December 2021 (EST)

Criticism

• Summary of criticism: Good history with good research, but amount marketing first and foremost. Much/most of the criticism comes from reconstructed, overly-dramatic dialogue that comes off as a little too forced. A lot of people like the book for the insight into SoA and a lot of great history, but you have to work around fictionalized dialogues between characters. Which, in a perfect world is fine, but in the actual world this was released in, something didn't work. I don't have much of an issue with it as others, but even personally I think it went a little too far with it... Like, the reconstructed dialogues are fine, if used sparingly and for effect, but it's nearly every single page. Which makes an interesting combo of: novel for people who want to read a talky-character story, and history book for people curious about the game industry. The two are intertwined in a way which doesn't feel elegant... shoehorned is a great word. Like the author's trying to get history in, but needs to contextualize it/connect it with fake dialogue. I feel those don't always combine smoothly, but again, if you know what you're getting into, it's really not as intolerable as people make it out. It IS to the point of being almost distracting, however, and at many times readers will ask themselves "did he really say that?" or even worse, "did it really happen this way?" And then readers cant confidently get into the history side for fear that it's just part of the fiction, so you're forced along with the narrative.
• Speaking of narrative, there is an undercurrent of "anti-SoJ" here, which I'd imagine is where (adding to the above) much of the remaining criticism comes into play. This is something Black Squirrel/others can maybe summarize better than I can (check that old forum thread), but the important thing here is the anti-SoJ should have been framed as "this is what SoA was honestly feeling" (which is true), and less "this is how things were really operating." There was always friction, but not this much, and a distinction needs to be made between SoA's honest feelings and the book's pushed narrative.
• For all the criticism, it'd be hard to write something that tries to do what Console Wars did and not run into the same criticisms... it can be done, but not easily. This article's criticisms should come from the above points, and be written intelligently; not just "its a novel so its automatically bad."
• Well-summarized criticism #1: "Reviewing for The A.V. Club, John Teti gave the book a "C" grade, criticizing the sections of dialogue: "Harris’ acts of embroidery drag Console Wars down", but also stating that "the innovation and corporate skulduggery of the Sega-Nintendo clash is so entertaining that Harris’ functional prose still tells a lively tale". Frank Cifaldi of Kotaku had similar critiques but praised the level of research that went into the book."
• Well-summarized criticism #2: "Rather than just being straight with us, Harris feels the need to shoehorn it into a corny drama as if we're looking at a flashback. ... But the larger sin is forgetting what makes the video games worthwhile. I never once felt like these people were passionate about gaming or gamers; they were passionate about consumers, and it adds up to a story where the real champion is marketing. Sega didn't build a better product; it built a better marketing campaign. And if that's the story, Harris could have easily made his book about any competing businesses. The appeal of the book is that it promises nostalgia combined with illumination, but it delivers neither."

CartridgeCulture (talk) 05:39, 31 December 2021 (EST)